Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing apparatus, a printing apparatus control method, and a storage medium.
Description of the Related Art
An image forming apparatus, such as a multifunction peripheral, includes a central processing unit (CPU) of a main body controller unit that controls the entire image forming apparatus, and option unit CPUs that individually control option functions, such as a FAX and a folding machine function. The various functions, such as the FAX and the folding machine function, are realized by the option unit CPUs operating based on control programs corresponding to the respective functions, stored in a storage device such as a read-only memory (ROM).
Conventionally, when trying to utilize an option function, a service person has had to mount the option unit and update the control programs of a combination of the option units matching the version of the control programs in the main body. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-116660 discusses a technology for updating option unit control programs. In this technology, the main body controller compares the version of the control program in an option unit with the version of that control program on a server. If the option unit version is older, the main body controller downloads the option unit control program on the server, and then downloads that control program to the option unit.
An option unit like a facsimile board can be used as an option unit that is common to a plurality of models. For easier inventory management, such an option unit is handled as the identical unit stock number (unit+control program).
However, the option unit control program is frequently corrected in order to respond to the various problems that arise when producing a new model, which naturally means that the program version also increases each time a correction is made. In this case, after the new version has finished being evaluated for the plurality of models, the option unit program for the models that have already been brought to market needs to be downloaded.
When utilizing an option function for the first time, the service person first mounts the option unit on the main body. However, if left like this, since the option unit is managed based on the identical stock number, the version of the control program in the option unit will often be old. According to the technology discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-116660, in this case, the option unit control program has had to be updated after accessing the server and downloading the option unit program to the main body. Further, it is also necessary to determine on the main body side whether the option unit control program corresponds to the version of the main body control program.